(CNN) - In a defeat for the Obama administration over executive privilege, a federal judge has ordered the release of a secret government document dealing with foreign aid that President Barack Obama has refused to make public.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle, in a ruling dated Tuesday, rejected as "troubling" the sweeping White House contention that a single unclassified directive was within the so-called presidential communications privilege.

(CNN) - A federal judge in Utah has struck down part of that state's law banning polygamy, after a lawsuit was brought by the stars of the television reality series "Sister Wives."

The ruling late Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups threw out the law's section prohibiting "cohabitation," saying it violates constitutional guarantees of due process and religious freedom.

Washington (CNN) - The high-stakes fight over implementing parts of the troubled healthcare reform law will move to the U.S. Supreme Court in coming months, in a dispute involving coverage for contraceptives and "religious liberty."

The justices agreed on Tuesday to review provisions in the Affordable Care Act requiring employers of a certain size to offer insurance coverage for birth control and other reproductive health services without a co-pay.

Washington (CNN) - Justice Clarence Thomas reflected on his long journey from childhood poverty to service on the highest court in the land, telling a conservative audience Thursday, "I have this wonderful opportunity to go to work everyday– I didn't always feel that way."

A nostalgic and "grateful" Thomas sought to assure fellow lawyers and judges he is not the person longtime critics have tried to portray him: that he remains an angry, frustrated jurist, especially over the treatment he received during his bitter 1991 confirmation. But he admitted the road to his current contentment has not been easy.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Oklahoma lost another round in its effort to restrict abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday declined to hear an appeal in a case that would force women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound first.

The justices, without comment, refused to accept the state's appeal over HB 2780, which would require healthcare providers to perform an ultrasound scan before terminating a woman's pregnancy.

Washington (CNN) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a pending appeal from Oklahoma officials who were defending a state law limiting abortions performed with medicine instead of surgery.

The law would have regulated the ability of doctors to prescribe a medication regime - using RU-486 pills - to terminate early pregnancies, and make it a crime to deviate from the federal government-approved dosage and time limits on the drugs.